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What is the Seminar about?
This day-long seminar will showcase undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral research in the social sciences in India. It will engage with wide-ranging contemporary topics in the social sciences and provide a forum for students from various institutions to engage in the exchange of academic knowledge. Last year, research topics ranged from unwanted pursuit behaviour to the vulnerability of the Indian labour force to automation, among others.
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Objectives of the Seminar
Encouraging high-quality research is an integral part of the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral curricula in India.
Providing an opportunity for students from various disciplines within the social sciences to present their research.
Engaging with topics of contemporary relevance and rigorous methods employed in social sciences research.
Establishing an academic forum for students of the social sciences to receive a critical review of their work.
THEMES
In doing away with an overarching theme, we wish to encourage submission of high-quality research in the fields of psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, and public policy. Papers presented at past editions of the Seminar have been multi-disciplinary in nature.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Saksham Singh (Behavior Scientist and PhD Researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Research Fellow, Centre for Social and Behaviour Change)
Saksham Singh is a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison specializing in behavioral and experimental economics, with a focus on energy and climate policy. His research uses large-scale field experiments to study how households respond to incentives, information, social norms, and other behavioral interventions. He has worked with electricity utilities and policy partners across India on demand response, consumer engagement, clean-energy adoption, and behaviorally informed policy design. His work has been supported by the Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and J-PAL amongst others. He is also a Research Fellow at the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change and a founding member of the Behavioral Insights Unit in India.
Abstract: Climate and energy policies ultimately depend on the decisions of households, communities, firms, and institutions. His talk will examine how behavioral science can help us better understand and influence these decisions. Drawing on field experiments and policy applications, particularly from India’s energy transition, it will explore the role of incentives, information, social norms, defaults, identity, and consumer engagement in shaping energy use and climate action. The talk will also reflect on setting up the infrastructure to deploy policy relevant research and what happens when behavioral interventions move from controlled experiments to implementation at scale, and what this means for designing more effective and inclusive climate and energy policies.
REGISTRATION AND PAPER SUBMISSION PROCESS
Please complete your registration by filling out this form. You can register as a Presenter or a Participant.
All papers must be uploaded in MS Word format. Please remember to upload anonymized full papers for review. Papers that are emailed will not be accepted.
Please submit full papers here.
ELIGIBILITY
Undergraduate students, Postgraduate students, PhD students, and recent graduates (within one year) are also welcome to apply
Date and Time
21st November, 2026 (Saturday 9AM to 2PM)
Venue
Hybrid (Online and In-Person in Mumbai)
registration fee
The most deserving early-career researchers who can contribute to India’s research ecosystem in the coming years at the Twelfth Seminar in Social Sciences are being offered registration at a highly subsidised fee as below.
Presenters: INR 2,500/-
Participants: INR 1,000/-
For in-person presenters and participants, fees cover refreshments, snacks, and a certificate.